It's good to bear in mind that like it or not, enlightenment has always been, even in a golden age, pretty much limited to an elite.

Religions lead us to believe that the soul is the ultimate family jewel and that in return for our mindless obedience, they can secure it for us in their vaults, or at least insure it against fire and theft. They are mistaken.

Hard times and funky living can season the soul, true enough, but joy is the yeast that makes it rise.

The word desire suggests that there is something we do not have. If we have everything already, then there can be no desire, for there is nothing left to want. I think that what the Buddha may have been trying to tell us is that we have it all, each of us, all the time; therefore, desire is simply unnecessary.

I have always been a romantic, one of those people who believes that a woman in pink circus tights contains all the secrets of the universe.

If the novelist isn't surprised by where his book ends up, he or she probably hasn't written anything worth remembering.

I do not know why the dead do not come back to life. Perhaps death is so wonderful, in ways we cannot comprehend, that they prefer it over and above their friends and loved ones, although I am inclined to doubt that be the case.